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Bibliofile - November

It was a return to police and detective novels this month as I read number five in the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke, number two in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series by Canadian author Louise Penny and the nineteenth in the Harry Bosch series by Michael Connelly. All excellent reads.

I also read A Dark and Broken Heart by R.J. Ellory, one of my favourite authors. His series is not an ongoing series of the same characters but an ongoing series of dark novels. I think he's almost - and I may have said this before - the Stephen King of police procedurals.

I began the month reading the fourth book in The Maze series by James Dashner. I say fourth but it's actually the first because it's the prequel which helps set the other three books - which I read in October - of this dark and dystopian world into context

My monthly visit to the world of music consisted of two fascinating books. Star Making Machinery, written in 1975, follows Captain Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen through the rigamaroles of making an album, from start to finish. Including agents, lawyers, record companies and of course the band this book provided a real eye opener to the music business. The second book, Sound Man, by Glyn Johns provided a different look of the music business through the eyes of a respected engineer and producer. If you look at album credits from the 60s and 70s especially more than likely Glyn Johns' name is there either as an engineer or a producer.

So it was a bit of an eclectic, yet enjoyable month of reading. Seven books in November brings my yearly total to 91 books over 11 months. Here are the books I read this month, and how I rated them on a scale of 1 to 5...

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I had been reading the Dave Robicheaux novels too...early in the year, and then for some reason, this past month, I stopped. It was on the one you just finished: A Stained White Radiance. I don't know why exactly, except maybe the characters seemed too stock. I do like his writing, though, and probably will return at some point to them. I also read A Burning Room and really enjoyed Connelly's return to Bosch, one of the few series that continues with nary a hiccup (only one book in the series that seemed "off," to me, but then he returned to "form.") I think the author I discovered this month that you might enjoy too is Jussi Adler-Olsen. The series is called Department Q and is similar to Stieg Larsson. 91 books?!? Nice. I'm at 60. If I'm lucky, I'll hit 70 for this year.

That's funny; someone else recommended Jussi Adler Olsen to me the week. I'll have to look into that series. I wouldn't worry about only having read 60 books so far this year. I have a lot more free time than you do.

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